Typical boiling water and pressurized water nuclear fission reactor plants comprise a nuclear fission reactor having an enclosed body of heat producing fissionable fuel which is associated with steam driven turbines for propelling electrical generators. Reactor coolant water is continuously circulated through the system during normal operation to carry the produced heat energy away from the fuel core for the formation of steam to be expended in work driving a turbine. Thus utilized coolant water and/or steam condensate is in turn cycled back into the nuclear reactor to repeat its heat energy transferring circuit substantially endlessly. This repeated circulation of coolant water throughout a vast network of vessels and conduits composed of different materials, chemical and physical conditions including temperatures, pressures and radiation, and products of radiation commonly containing corrosive agents, requires constant monitoring of the chemistry of the circulating coolant water from different locations throughout the system.
Common analytical testing procedures for nuclear fission reactor coolant water comprise sequentially sampling individual water specimens from many diverse locations throughout the nuclear reactor coolant water circulating system. The sampled coolant water specimens are each transferred through a network of coolant water sample conveying conduits or tubes to a central or consolidated water analyzing instrument. The water testing instrument analyzes each specimen in sequence for determining the presence of designated constituents such as chloride, sodium, potassium, sulfate, etc. and their concentrations dissolved within the coolant water samples. This soluble constituent data derived from various coolant water samples provides a basis for modifying the water chemistry as a means of controlling the content of components causing corrosion or radiation and the like potentially deleterious conditions within the coolant water circulating system.
Typical of nuclear reactor coolant water testing or monitoring apparatus comprising ion chromatographic means and water analysis procedures is the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 4,472,354, issued Sep. 18, 1984. The disclosure and contents of the aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 4,472,354 is incorporated herein by reference.